Pope Sets SBC Championship Record As Mean Green Expand Lead

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - North Texas Swimming & Diving retained its lead after day two of the Sun Belt Swimming & Diving Championships at the Centennial SportsPlex on Tuesday night.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (2/18/10) - North Texas Swimming & Diving retained its lead after day two of the Sun Belt Swimming & Diving Championships at the Centennial SportsPlex on Tuesday night.

The Mean Green lead two-time defending champion Western Kentucky by 14 with a total score of 282.

Touting a 10-point lead entering tonight's finals, the Mean Green expanded their lead to 62 early with the 500-yard freestyle.

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After qualifying five of the eight athletes swimming in the "A" heat, North Texas took the top three spots and four of the top five.

Senior Emily Floyd swam her fastest time in the event for the second time today. This time her mark of 4:52.38 was good enough for and NCAA "B" cut and first place. Freshman Catia Weickgenant claimed second in her first SBC Championship, touching the wall in 4:53.92.

Hiliary Riedmann was the last member of the Mean Green to podium, earning third with a time of 4:54.85. Rounding out the top ten for North Texas was Erika Roach in fifth (4:55.59), Angela Dworschack in eighth (5:01.47) and Dawn Richerson from the "B" Final in 10 with a time of 4:58.87.

Sophomore Rosa Gentile, who was the top qualifier in the 200-yard individual medley, matched her prelim time and school record of 2:04.21, which was good enough for sixth.

Sophomore Seabre Pope made Sun Belt Championship history by becoming the first woman to swim a sub-23 second 50-yard freestyle at the tournament meet. Pope's NCAA "B" cut time of 22.99 seconds earned her first place, while teammate Nicole Leslie earned eighth with a time of 23.87.

The final race of the night saw the Mean Green 200-freestyle relay team of Pope, Gentile, Leslie and Alicia Hale finished just over half a second behind both Western Kentucky and Denver with a time of 1:33.26 for third place.

North Texas will jump right back in the pool tomorrow morning for the Sun Belt Championships day three qualifying. The 400-yard IM, 100 fly, 200 free, 100 breast and 100 back prelims will be contested.